Recently a friend posted about some cheap wine treats. I wrote a pretty long [LONG] comment on the post and thought, upon re-reading it, that it may make for a fun read here... So here, then, is my two cents on wine and price:
"I used to work with wine + spirits clients when I lived in New York. I worked with restaurant clients in Chicago... At Whole Foods - we launched our first boxed wine product...
Here's the poop. Time after time...sommeliers and wine buyers alike told me - price, label, prestige matter less than what taste experience you seek. Do you like sweeter wines? That's not necessarily the hallmark of an uneducated palate as some wine snobs would have you believe. Sure - I think everyone may agree that white zin is the devil's own juice - but...
Two Buck Chuck? Serves a great purpose as a no-nonsense table sip. Lost Vineyards - an Argentine brand available for $2.97 at my Kroger (and at my local Whole Foods, too) - makes some neat blends. From a refreshing Pinto Grigio/Torrontes [an Argentine exclusive] blend, to a smooth Shiraz/Cabernet blend - it's less than $3 and quite nice.
Many boxed wines are indeed a deal and quite good. I know when we launched ours at WFM - it was from a reputable Australian producer and many believe the bladdered {I know - ugly word} box kept the wine fresher longer and you certainly couldn't beat the price.
SO - on a final note about this [pay attention, this part is good]. I worked with a client in New York...one of the most unreasonable, demanding, delusional clients I ever had the misfortune of performing flawlessly for with no recognition. Maison Nicolas offered a selection of really inexpensive, French varietal wines - all from $5.99 to $9.99 or so. We launched a wine called Consensus for them. We held a blind tasting at a 4-star NYC restaurant for wine writers and critics and the like. It was paired against, I believe, 6 other wines?! ALL of the wines were more expensive. This was around $7.99 or $8.99. Wouldn't you know it - this inexpensive wine didn't win - of course - the Consensus [I know bad pun] was that it scored smack dab in the middle of the $13 to $49 wines.
SO THERE!!! SIP what you like...enjoy and don't worry what people think!"
Cheers,
Michael
1 comment:
Touché!
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